Aeroplane



Draftsman UR 1s|405a917= G. A. HENDERSON.

AEROPLANE. APPLICATION man APR 11, 1918.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922;.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

244. AtHuNAu luo G. A. HENDERSON.

AEBOPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 17. 1918.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

244. AERONAU'I I tirade-mas PATENT OFFICE.

UNITED STATES GEORGE A. HENDERSON, OF ST. ALBANS, WEST VIRGINIA.

AEROPLAN E.

Application filed April 17, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lmown that I, GEORGE A. HENDER- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Albans in the county of Kanawha and State of West Virginia, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Aeroplanes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to the art as disclosed in my 1915 United States patent for improvement in aeroplanes, Number 1.164 717 of suspending an aeroplane in the air thfough its relationship to agitated air as distinguished from such suspension resulting from its traction or propulsion through still air; and my objects are:

To produce from free air such mechanically generated air currents as have heretofore been dissipated in aeroplanes wakes;

to establish their constant magnitude and to vary their absolute incidence or angle of attack during flight of the machine as a whole, for the purpose of increasing and controlling resistance to a plurality of assembled propellers and aerofoils therein acting reciprocally with each other to suspend, to vertically lift and lower and to move the machine in the air.

More particularly my objects are (a) to provide means for establishing definitely deflected air currents of predetermined volume and velocity, and to direct the force of their resistance to create constant centers of pressure on to practically disposed aerofoil area;

(b) As distinguished from, (an aerofoil,) using free air, an object is to establish and to maintain a system of forces of air resistance of a plurality of aerofoils assembled in horizontal and vertical tandem,- in which system said forces are sufficiently parallel with each other and constant in magnitude to produce a plurality of metacentric curves reduced to points, or envelopes of the consecutive positions of the aforesaid controlled air resistance;

(a) To direct the latter curves to arbitrarily fixed positions of said resultant forces of air resistance on the propellers and aerofoils so positioned in their relation to each other to accomplish the prime object of my invention, and

(d) To provide increased suction along the top surfaces of all aerofoils to increase Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

Serial No. 229,146.

their lifting capacity in degree greater than that exerted as lifting force by air pressure on their under-sides.

The accompanying drawings show one embodiment o f'my invention. In describing them it is premised that its broader features are capable of various embodiments within the scope of the appended claim.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation in section of a machine illustrating my invention, Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section thereof with certain parts omitted for clearness of illustration, Fig. 3 is a detail view of Fig. 1 showing the planes in inclined position with the general courses of the air resistance thereon indicated; and showing a view in detail, of the means of adjusting the planes, and of their internal bracing with relation to the machine as a whole.

The letter F designates the frame work of the machine, S a central driving shaft revolved by motors, M, in cars C, located below the central shaft S, which operates auxiliary shafts S" by vertical shaft drives S (Fig. 3), carrying propellers P rigidly anchored to shafts S, the shafts being braced within the frame work of the machine.

- Planes A are anchored at practically determined distances in the rear of propellers P. The upper planes A may be of greater dimensions than the lower planes, their aspect ratio being approximately 8, though I do not limit myself to the number of planes, their size, shape or to their aspect ratio as stated. They are preferably internally reinforced in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3, in which AA are cross sectional views of the planes or aerofoils. A is a central shaft running longitudinally through the aerofoils and pivotally mounted in journals A at either end of the plane within the frame work of the machine, F. A is a fexible sheet of steel rigidly anchored to shaft A a substantial part of its length and internally bracing, in the form shown, the aerofoils A. At a plurality of equally distant locations on shaft A and rigidly anchored thereto I provide cams A A movably connected with paralleling shafts A, S with uprights A, A operable vertically by sliding connecting rods A A on common control shaft A, moved horizontally of the machine by the operators manipulation of lever A, intermeshed at the point A through connection A".

. The common shaft A", when manually moved horizontally, acts through the rods A pivoted and braced within the frame work F, of the machine, to 11ft or lower the uprights A according to the direction in which the lever A is moved, and the inclination of the cams A fixing in turn the inclination of the aerofoils thereto connected in the manner illustrated, fixes the angle of incidence of the air resistance which is horizontally directed to their undersides by the operation of propellers P as herein de scribed.

The propellers P, of usual construction, are variously bladed numerically, preferably from two to four, inclusive, and their respective revolutions per minute are predetermined by tests and fixed in their relation to each other consistent with the maximum resistance of air currents to be presented to their forward surfaces in the manner hereinafter described.

When on earth the machine rests on skids U attached to the underpart of the framework F. The planes or aerofoils A are adjustably inclined as shown in Fig. 3 and are then subjected to currents of air generated by the propellers P in direction LD which currents are deflected by the planes in direction oblique to perpendicular on the line B-A-C. For example I have illustrated in Fig. 3 a plurality of currents of air enerated by the forward propellers, and directed horizontally backwardly to the entering edge of the aerofoil at fixed angles of attack thereon when inclined, as shown, on a line corresponding to zero lift when the current is in the direction indicated, thus providing absolute incidence, viz., centers of pressure at the point of intersection of the resultant force of air resistance to the line B-AC, representing that of zero lift in this instance.

The propellers creating, as they inevitably do, a plurality of paralleling air currents of constant magnitude, they are thus applied to a plurality of points on the under curved surface of the aerofoils along the general direction of the zero line represented by the inclination of the planes in Fig. 3, (equivalent to the aerofoil area of the planes in Fig. 1). These currents, turning around their points of application, but having their magnitude and velocities maintained by the constant operation of the propeller, remain approximately parallel to each other, with the result that the resultant force turns at the definite point, viz., that fixed by the uniform inclination of all areofoils in vertical and horizontal tandem in relation to the propellers intervening in the manner illustrated in the drawings, with the result that a series of alternatingly paralleling air currents of constant magnitude are created, directed backward, then obliquely on the line B--AC, thence again backward on the line LD, thence again obliquely on the line BA-C, thence, under the influence of the lower third propeller in vertical tandem, again backward on the line LD, thence obliquely to down on the line BA-C, to the atmosphere, where the currents, representing dissipated force, form in space a series of metacentric curves of general direct-ion horizontal of and in the wake of the machine as a whole.

In combination with the tractive force applied to all of the propellers in the direction LD, direction of the machine is, in the above illustrated instance, resolved by those forces in direction of a line drawn between the lines BA-C, and LD, and when the machine is released from provided anchorage on the earth, with said forces preliminarily so applied, no initial momentum of the machine as a whole with reference to the surface of the earth, is required for its flight. Reliance on increased suction of air from the top of the machine forward, down and thence backwardly and oblique to down, in the course above described, is bad for creating lifting power in force superior to that exerted by the fixed currents on the underside of the planes.

The normal tendency of a current (so created and deflected), to assume direction parallel to the moving body as a whole (as distinguished from the tangent of its trailing edge) is relied on as an aid to the tandem propellers in the center and lower rows to deflect to horizontal, the obli ue forces of air, to be again deflected obllquely by the aerofoils in the manner described.

)Vhen in flight, the designed changing of the inclination of all aerofoils A from their inclined positions as shown in Fig. 3 toward those positions illustrated in Fig. 1, resolves direction of the machine toward the line LD and the general direction of the air currents in the opposite direction, at increased velocities in relation to each other. Conversely, when in flight the designed changing of the inclination of all aerofoils A from their inclined positions as shown in Fig. 3 toward the perpendicular line A--O (but in no event to perpendicular), acts to equalize all forces present in the machine viz., that resistance and suction to resolve direction on the line BAC, that traction to resolve direction on the line RL, and gravity toresolve direction on the line B-AC, so that with gravity initially overcome, as hereinabove described, and with direction fixed by dominating forces manually controlled within the craft, the latter forces are practically manipulated to effect its immobility in mid-air.

244. AERONAU l IUS In flight, direction is fixed and stability aided by manual operation of horizontal and verticall disposed rudders R and R and vanes and V of practical construction known to the prior art, and set within the influence of said air resistance entirely encircling the machine as a whole, to the exclusion of all outside air interferences.

I claim:

An aeroplane comprising a plurality of sets of superposed aerofoils arranged in tandem, superposed motor driven propellers located in advance of the aerofoils acting to create tractive forces and to provide a series of paralleling air currents in combina- 15 signature in the presence of two Witnesses 20 this thirteenth day of April, 1918.

GEORGE A. HENDERSON.

Witnesses:

H. F. HANKS, G. T. FQGLE. 

